UN’s Gaza war crimes investigation faces obstacles

YNet News

9 June 2009

After interviewing dozens of war victims and poring through the files of human rights groups, a veteran UN war crimes investigator acknowledged that his probe into possible crimes by Israel and Hamas is unlikely to lead to prosecutions.

Israel has refused to cooperate, depriving his team access to military sources and victims of Hamas rockets. And Hamas security often accompanied his team during their five-day trip to Gaza last week, raising questions about the ability of witnesses to freely describe the militant group’s actions.

But the chief barrier remains the lack of a court with jurisdiction to hear any resulting cases.

“From a practical political point of view, I wish I could be optimistic,” Judge Richard Goldstone said, citing the legal and political barriers to war crimes trials.

Still, Goldstone hopes his group’s report — due in September — will spur action by other UN bodies and foreign governments.

Goldstone, a South African judge who prosecuted war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, refused to comment on the investigation’s content. But AP interviews with more than a dozen Gazans who spoke to the team reveal a wide-ranging investigation into the war’s most prominent allegations.

In Gaza, Goldstone’s 15-member team met with Hamas and UN officials, collected reports from Palestinian human rights groups and interviewed dozens of survivors.

Among them was a Bedouin man who told the investigators how he watched Israeli soldiers shoot his mother and sister dead as they fled their home waving white flags. But he, too, doubted he would see justice.

“The committee was just like all the others who have come,” said 46-year-old Majed Hajjaj. “There are lots of reports written, but they’re nothing more than ink on paper.”

The UN team also stepped through the shrapnel-peppered doorway of a mosque where an Israeli missile strike killed 16 people, witnesses said. During the war, Israel accused Hamas of hiding weapons in mosques. Witnesses said no weapons or militants were present.

They inspected holes in the street near a UN school where Israeli artillery killed 42 people, and visited the charred skeleton of a hospital torched by Israeli shells. In both cases, the army said militants had fired from nearby, and witnesses said some had been near the school.

And they visited the Samouni family, whose members say they took refuge on soldiers’ orders in a house that was then shelled, killing 21 people.

Israel denies the account, but says the house may have been hit in crossfire with militants.

Israel launched the offensive to stop eight years of Hamas rocket attacks. Palestinian human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed, most of them civilians. Israel says around 1,100 Gazans were killed and that most were militants, but — unlike the Palestinian researchers — did not publish the names of the dead. Thirteen Israelis were also killed, three of them civilians.

Human rights groups called for war crimes investigations soon after the war’s end, accusing Israel of disproportionate force and failing to protect civilians. Some groups and the Israeli army said Hamas fought from civilian areas and used human shields — all of which can be war crimes.

Hamas ‘very cooperative’

Israel’s refusal to cooperate meant that Goldstone — a Jew with close ties to the Jewish state — had to enter Gaza via Egypt.

Israel alleges anti-Israeli bias by the probe’s sponsor, the UN Human Rights Council, which has a record of criticizing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said investigators could not reach an “unbiased conclusion” since they couldn’t question those who fired rockets at Israel.

When asked if the team met with Hamas fighters, team member Hina Jilani declined to comment, but said Hamas had been “very cooperative.”

A Hamas official, Ahmed Yousef, said he hoped the group’s report would be “like ammunition in the hands of the people who are willing to sue Israeli war criminals.”

Some survivors said the team pressed them on Israel’s assertion that it made warning phone calls before airstrikes and whether militants fought or fired rockets from their neighborhoods.

“They asked for all the details. Were there rockets fired from the area, why did they target this area specifically, stuff like that,” said Ziad Deeb, 22, who told the team how he lost 11 relatives and both his legs when an artillery shell exploded on his doorstep.

Alex Whiting, a professor at Harvard law school, called Goldstone “supremely qualified” for such an investigation, but said such cases are hard to investigate, especially without military records. He also said there are few mechanisms for prosecution if crimes are uncovered.

But even without prosecution, Whiting said, inquiries can spur countries to investigate themselves or affect future wartime conduct.

“Many times, the immediate result is a disappointment for the victims and survivors, but the hope is for the future,” he said.

Settler documented firing in Hebron won’t be tried

Aviad Glickman | YNet News

8 June 2009

The Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s Office plans in the coming days to renege on an indictment filed against Ze’ev Braude, who was accused of firing at an Arab family during the evacuation of a disputed building in the West Bank city of Hebron in December 2008.

Ynet learned on Monday afternoon that the decision was made following the State’s refusal to disclose evidence defined as classified information during the trial.

Braude, who has been under house arrest in the past few months, was indicted for shooting and injuring two Palestinians during a clash with an Arab family living in Hebron. Part of the incident was documented in a video published later by several media outlets.

About three months ago Braude’s lawyer, Attorney Ariel Atari, appealed the Supreme Court, asking to receive classified information from the State Prosecutor’s Office. About a month and a half later, the State Prosecutor’s Office informed the court that it was unable to disclose the information or reveal any further details on its content, as this could endanger the State’s security.

The classified material was revealed in a Supreme Court discussion presided by Justice Elyakim Rubinstein. The judge ruled that “a proper procedure cannot be held where there is material which the defense cannot be given the opportunity to use for its own needs. Revealing the material for the sake of doing justice is preferable than the interest in not revealing it.”

According to Rubinstein, the secret information does not appear to damage the State’s stance, but may change the ruling on the matter under certain circumstances.

However, the State Prosecutor’s Office did not give up, threatening to renege on the charges filed against Braude should Rubinstein order it to reveal the material.

B’Tselem: Violent settler evading punishment

Following the threat, the judge announced that the State had decided that the price of revealing the material overpowered the public interest in holding the trial, and that therefore there was no longer a need to reveal the classified information.

The Justice Ministry said in response, “The court made its decision, and we are studying and examining it.”

Attorney Atari said that “canceling the indictment against Braude does real justice with the defendant. Braude acted out of self-defense, and the material in the State’s possession could have established his acquittal. Therefore we welcome the decision.”

Following the decision, the B’Tselem human rights organization demanded that the State Prosecutor’s Office go back on its decision.

“It’s intolerable that a violent settler would evade punishment and be allowed to continue risking lives, although his crime has been caught on tape. If the State refuses to reveal the investigation material, it must find alternative ways to judge Braude according to the letter of the law, but canceling the indictment is not a legitimate alternative.”

Farmers in Saffa persist; access again denied

Palestine Solidarity Project

7 June 2009

Farmer from Safa
Farmer from Safa

This Saturday once again, international and Israeli activists joined farmers from the Saffa area of Beit Ommar on their land near the settlement of Bat Ayn. For the last two months, farmers have been forced to use Israeli and international accompaniment as they pick grape leaves and tend to their land in order to prevent attack from right-wing extremist settlers. The Israeli military has made it even more difficult by constantly ordering the entire area a closed military zone; an act that is supposed to be used temporarily but which this district commander has used to prevent farmers from accessing their land freely for 2 months, in violation of an Israeli supreme court order.

The military, for the second week in a row, selectively enforced the closed military zone against the farmers and solidarity activists while doing nothing to prevent the settlers from moving towards the farmers, screaming insults and rolling boulders down the hillside onto the Palestinian agricultural land.

The Israeli army prevents Palestinian farmers to harvest in the Settlers had also obviously been allowed access to land in the last week; several grape vines and fruit trees belonging to Palestinian farmers had been cut down and an area of the privately owned land had been burned.

The Israeli military forces and border police quickly forced one group of activists and farmers back into the village less than an hour after the group arrived in the area. Two other groups, accompanying Jabber and Hamad Soleiby, worked on the land for approximately 2 hours before border police arrived and ordered them out of the area, presenting a new closed military zone order covering the next seven days. The Israeli army prevents Palestinian farmers to harves in theWhen an Israeli activist approached the border police to remind them of their obligation under the Israeli Supreme Court order that they were required to allow access by the farmers to their agricultural land, he was arrested. Kobi Snitz, with Anarchists Against the Wall, was held for over 4 hours without an arrest report, in violation of the Israeli police’s own policies. He was then taken to the Qryat Arba police station where the police banned him from the Southern West Bank for 3 days. He was released that afternoon.

The farmers in Saffa, assisted by PSP and Ta’ayush, are collecting evidence of the violations of the Israeli military in ordering the area a closed military zone in perpetuity, and also of being complicit in settler attacks on farmers and solidarity activists in order to file legal complaints against the ongoing abuses.

Another farmer injured by Israeli army whilst working in his field

ISM Gaza | Farming Under Fire

5 June 2009

On Friday 5th June 2009, Khaled Ismail Mohammed Jahjuh was shot in his lower spine by the Israeli army as he was leaving his fields in the village of Shoka in Rafah.

Khaled had been working in his fields which are located 1.5 kilometers from the Israeli border, together with his seven year old son Ahmed, since the early morning. At around 10 am they loaded the crops on their jeep and as soon as they started to drive an explosive bullet measuring 800 millimeters, was shot which entered the jeep through the left side door, passed through the driver’s seat and entered Khaled’s body. Families living in Shoka witnessed the incident and reported seeing an Israeli army hammer shoot. The bullet has damaged Khaled’s nerve system leaving him with a dropped foot and unable to walk. The exit wound on his back is too large to be closed. He will require a year and a half to recover if the operations are successful. His 7 years old son Ahmed is now suffering from psychological problems.

Khaled’s field used to consist of 225 trees ranging from oranges to olives. During the massacre on Gaza earlier this year, the Israeli Army entered Rafah and destroyed most of these trees. Only 10 trees were spared. Khaled is the 18th person to be injured whilst working in fields close to the border (in addition to 3 Palestinians killed) since the end of the massacre in Gaza which ISM is aware of.

Several farmers have been shot by Israeli forces while farming their lands.

Jerusalem rail operator jumps ship, Tel Aviv group isn’t even responding

Ha’aretz

8 June 2009

The light rail projects for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are both facing difficulties. In a body-blow to the future Jerusalem light rail, the French company Veolia, which was supposed to run the train system after its construction, is abandoning the project.

Moving on to Tel Aviv, the city can’t even get a response to the compromise it offered MTS, the consortium supposed to build an urban train system, in order to settle issues in dispute. It’s waited a month and gotten no answer, causing not a little consternation in government circles.

As for the Jerusalem system, Veolia not only wants out of running the future train; it’s trying to sell its 5% stake in Citypass, the light rail consortium.

In recent days Veolia has been sending feelers to the Egged or Dan bus consortiums, to potentially replace it as project operator.

Any change in the ownership structure of Citypass, or in the identity of the project operator, requires the permission of the state. Also, the attempt to add Egged to the consortium could arouse opposition at the Antitrust Authority.

Veolia has had to contend not only with the delays and difficulties in building the light rail project itself, but with political pressure at home as well. Two months ago a French court heard a lawsuit by a pro-Palestinian group, demanding that the light rail project be halted.

The organization based itself on an article in French law that allows the court to void business agreements, signed by French companies, that violate international law.

The political pressure on Veolia has been mounting in another direction. According to various reports abroad, the French firm had been losing major projects in Europe because of its involvement in the Jerusalem job. Observers claim that’s the real reason Veolia opted out.

Also, for two years the Jerusalem project has been held up by battles between Citypass, the city of Jerusalem and various ministries. (The disputes even include whose fault the delays are.)

Last week the spat between Citypass and the state reached a new low, after the group admitted it couldn’t meet the new deadline for the Jerusalem light rail project. It expects to run nine months behind schedule, the consortium said. The state then accused the business consortium of deliberately dragging its feet and of effecting “a hostile takeover of the streets of Jerusalem.”

Sources in Israel’s transportation sector called Citypass’s announcement “chutzpah,” on the grounds that it and the state had agreed on a new schedule only a year earlier. And that was a month after an arbitration process during which the new schedule was ratified.

In response to Citypass’ announcement, the state contacted the arbitrators accompanying the process, asking them to enforce the franchise agreement and force Citypass to finish the works as set in the new schedule, by September 2010, “finally restoring normalcy to Jerusalem.”

The state also asked for permission to stop paying Citypass, including the upcoming installment of NIS 32.5 million.

Citypass can meet the agreed-on schedule, the state insists: “This isn’t inability to complete the project on time. At most it’s a crude attempt to squeeze more money from the state,” wrote the state in its letter to the arbitrators. “[Citypass] already advised the state and the arbitrators that it doesn’t intend to finish the works on time, but it doesn’t settle for words: It is making sure to work at a pace that assures it won’t meet the agreed-on deadline for completion.”

In summation, the state accuses Citypass of making life in Jerusalem intolerable.

Citypass denies the allegations, which it called “absurd,” and claims the state is indulging in baseless legal gambits in response to the lawsuit Citypass filed against it because of the delays.

Sources in the know suspect that the delays ruined the project’s business model. The cost of the works grew, and there were delays in the transfer of state funding for the companies involved in the project, while the companies needed the money to return their own loans. The upshot, if so, was heightened tensions between the partners in Citypass, mainly between equipment provider Alstom, operator Veolia and the Israeli contractor Ashtrom.

After some changes, the partners in Citypass are Ashtrom (27.5%), Alstom (20%), Polar Investments (17.5%), Israel Infrastructures Fund (10%) and Veolia (5%).

The Jerusalem project involves building eight lines. Only the first one has passed the tender process, which Citypass won. The line is supposed to start in Pisgat Zeev, pass along Jaffa Street and end at Mount Herzl. The cost of that line alone is projected at NIS 2.4 billion. The state is providing NIS 1.4 billion.